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Discourse and EU Policy-Making

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Discourse Analysis and European Union Politics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on political discourses as a device of inclusion and exclusion in European Union policy-making. The claim is that discourse is decisive for which actors are included and excluded from EU policy-making, for setting the procedures that guide decision making, and for which issues stand a chance for serious consideration in EU political agendas. For the purpose of studying the roles of discourse in EU policy-making, this chapter outlines discursive path-dependency as a concept of discursive resistance and further elaborates a series of mechanisms for the study of change, including that of discursive ambiguity, processes of translation, discursive entrepreneurship and expertise as the advancement of analytical ideas in policy-making. The chapter presents empirical examples from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and concludes by suggesting a series of relationships between the mechanisms of discursive resistance and change.

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  1. Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Kennet Lynggaard

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  1. Kennet Lynggaard
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Lynggaard, K. (2019). Discourse and EU Policy-Making. In: Discourse Analysis and European Union Politics. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39326-5_4

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